Sacramento area slams brakes on July 4 events. Even large private parties ‘should not happen’

Rancho Cordova knew it couldn’t hold its usual Fourth of July celebration — a two-day carnival on the American River that draws 25,000 people and features fireworks both nights.

But the city figured it could stage a smaller affair, a drive-in fireworks show with people watching from their cars, without risking the spread of COVID-19. “We thought we could save the fireworks,” said Shelly Blanchard of the Cordova Community Council, a nonprofit that was planning the event.

That’s been scrapped, too. The council pulled the plug on fireworks late Wednesday, a few hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the closure of movie theaters, indoor dining at restaurants and other activities in Sacramento and 18 other counties amid a frightening resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We felt the responsible thing to do was to stay home,” Blanchard said. “In the end, when our governor asked us to play ball, we felt this was the way to go.”

Rising COVID-19 numbers are effectively shutting down much of the Fourth of July weekend — with no guarantees that canceling fireworks and parades will tame the pandemic.

Newsom and public health officials are afraid that, with most official celebrations scrubbed, Californians will retreat to their backyards and host massive barbecues and other private gatherings instead, spreading the coronavirus just as easily as at a giant community parade. Health officials have pointed to such private gatherings as a major cause behind the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

The Fourth is “a weekend that has raised a lot of concern from our health officials,” Newsom said Wednesday. “We’re trying to build around a framework of being proactive this weekend and get us through Fourth of July weekend in a way where we’re not seeing a significant increase in spiking cases.”

Speaking to The Bee Thursday, Liliana Ferrer Silva, the consul general of Mexico in Sacramento, put out a special plea to the hard-hit Latino community not to gather in large numbers over the Fourth of July weekend. Recent state and local data show that Latinos, many of whom work in essential businesses, have been hit with the highest COVID-19 rates of any group by far.

“I want to call out to the community for the Fourth,” she said. “We need to continue with social distancing. Keep your distance. Wear face masks. We need to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.”

At the same time, some public health experts warn against placing too much emphasis on how Californians behave this weekend.

Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at UC Irvine, said the state has to prepare for a lengthy period of hunkering down and following the safety protocols, regardless of what happens over the Fourth.

Very little will be solved if people avoid picnics this weekend but go “back to non-mask wearing July 6,” said Noymer, an associate professor of public health and disease prevention.

Nonetheless, government agencies and community organizations are doing what they can to discourage big gatherings. Practically every major fireworks show across the Sacramento region has been shelved, from Woodland to Cal Expo to Lake Tahoe.

The California Department of Public Health issued another statement Thursday, from state public health officer Dr. Sonia Angell, urging people to keep away from each other this weekend. “Any public or private events this weekend that include people who do not live together in the same household should not happen. This includes family get-togethers,” she said.

Drive-in fireworks in Folsom

Thinking of getting away? Parking areas at most state beaches in the Bay Area have been closed.

One of the few big fireworks show is in Folsom, which is holding a “Star Spangled Drive In” Friday night. The show, to be held on a field south of Highway 50, is an attempt to compensate for the cancellation of the Folsom Pro Rodeo, which normally occupies the three-day weekend.

Big unofficial celebrations have been erased from the calendar, too, including the parade through Sacramento’s Fab 40s neighborhood that draws thousands. “People need socializing,” said City Councilman Jeff Harris, who represents the neighborhood. “But with the spike in cases, we decided any aggregation of people is not well-advised.”

In some parts of the city, people are trying to salvage some semblance of a normal Fourth. The annual kids’ parade on Govan Way in the Land Park neighborhood has been canceled. But Kimberly Slater Buchholz, a lawyer who lives in the neighborhood, is organizing a smaller parade on a series of nearby streets.

The idea, she said, is to spread the kids out to maintain social distancing. Instead of crowding the sidewalks, parents and others will watch from the safety of their front yards. Two tables will be set up to hand out cookies and doughnuts, but “of course we will be in gloves and masks at the distribution tables,” Buchholz said.

Governments are trying to crack down on block parties and other big gatherings. The city of Sacramento turned down a dozen applications for street-closure permits, said city spokeswoman Grace Nunez. It also canceled six permits for barbecues or picnics in city parks that had already been granted prior to the original stay-at-home orders issued in mid-March, she said.

Picnic shelters and barbecue pits have long been closed at Sacramento County parks. The county isn’t handing out street-closure permits, either.

However, the county is keeping the American River Parkway open this weekend. Additional park rangers will be out to remind people about social distancing, said county spokesman Ken Casparis.

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 12:20 PM.